Ward Christmas Party

At our Ward Christmas Party, Rico and his counselors dressed up as the three wise men. They told the story of the birth of Christ and talked about the symbols of Christmas and then gave gifts representing these symbols to all the children. We did this with our ward in Colorado one year, and it is a great way to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. (Doesn't this look like a group of men you would want leading your congregation?)

Wreaths Across America

Rico and Elizabeth took the boys to Wreaths Across America, a service project where the community purchases wreaths to place on the graves of fallen soldiers. (Bethany's theater group was involved in this as a fund raiser.) There was a ceremony where each of the armed forces was represented and there were speaches by prominent clergy and politicians. At one point, the politicians got a little too political. The day should have been about honoring those who gave their lives for their country and not winning votes. But in the end, it was a wonderful experience to have our boys see the enormous amount of graves just for the Houston area and to talk to them about patriotism. As we laid each wreath on the grave, we were supposed to say that persons name out loud. It made it a little more personal. We hope that this event continues to spread across the nation and that many more people will become involved.

Valero Kids Christmas Party

Valero held the kids Christmas party at Incredible Pizza. Caleb and Daxon love it there...lots of games to choose from and as much pizza as you can eat. Skeeball is Daxon's game of choice. He is pretty good at it and it gives lots of tickets so that he can cash them in for the oh so popular paper planes and Tootsie Rolls.

Rico and Caleb enjoyed a couple games of air hockey.

Daxon's efforts at the Skeeball game paid off

Big Buck Hunter

Caleb and Daxon discovered the classic Big Buck Hunter. Unfortunately, the boys were so involved with all the fun games, we didn't get back to the party room in time to see Santa. They weren't all that disappointed since they both feel they are too old to believe in Santa, but Mom was disappointed not to get any Santa pictures this year.

Nutcracker Performance

The 5th grade at Bear Branch Elementary always does a version of The Nutcracker each December. This was Caleb's year, and he was given the part of one of the Candy Flutes. It was so fun to watch! They danced and sang and had a great time.